Gathering

December 3, 2020

The group is at the Green Griffon trying to decide what to do.  They wonder about the sisters but don't see any around.  They do see Roldan, who works for Lady Sara.  He joins them for a bit of drink.  He lets them know that if they are interested, Lady Sara has been hiring scouts.  Roldan knows of them checking out the east to know if the giants have spread.  They thank him for the information.  They try and act surprised when he tells them about the giants and everything happening to the south east.  He says that Mudstrand has a lot of things stored there but no one yet knows what will happen to a caravan that goes that way, so none have yet tried.  They catch up on some of the others from when they worked more on caravans or the warehouses.  

After eating, they go to a leather shop and ask for their gear they ordered.  After some confusion, they realize they went to the wrong leather store!  The city seems to have changed since they got back.  Or maybe realizing that slavery might happen here, even if indirectly, has changed their view on it.  It turns out this leather shop deals in magic as well.  They end up dropping a lot of coin!  They get a very discounted bag of holding, as the owner said "marks" for the price instead of "crowns." They also buy some magic runes for armor and boots of speed.  Quite the find and they are happy.  Further, it turns out the boots can do more if attuned but only if they don't have metal armor.  Once finished, the other leather shop is close.  They get their order and head to Homilar's.  

Homilar isn't there but left word to let him know if they arrived and to make them comfortable if they did.  The servants do so.  They look around his study but everything seems in order.  He arrives over ten minutes later with apologies.  They talk about the slaves and if more could be done.  He eventually says that it was the Greedy Owl that he wanted them to look into in town for the other part of the slaves.  By now, it's probably empty of anything, and he has no direct evidence of the places involvement.  He then says that if they ever want more work, he would be glad to give it to them.  Homilar tells them that he has heard rumors of something to the west, maybe tannaruks and wants to know if they will check it out.  They hesitate as they are wanting to work for Lady Sara, as they trust her more.  Homilar then continues saying that the fey'ri have taken the area north of the High Forest and he heard that tannaruks are going to take the Nether Mountains north of that.  Rolen is worried by that and they know they all have villages that have been affected by this.  Homilar says he heard that nothing changed for most people, just the leaders.  The people were given a choice as to who they stood with.  At least, he hasn't heard of any big disruptions to the villages north of the High Forest.  They thank him and head out.

They got word of an alchemist in town and go talk to them.  However, Rolen wants to warn his family and see how they are.  He and Rikard head back to the Green Griffon where he does several rituals.  First he summons a hawk to him.  Then he spends time with the hawk and making the hawk comfortable with Rolen and carrying a message.  Then he has the hawk carry a message to his family.  

Dio and Kaji had put on the boots of speed and couldn't hold back any longer!  They sprint off toward the alchemist's shop!  At one point, Kaji was going so fast, he couldn't stop for a wagon and managed to slide under it!  Dio managed to get around.  Another time, as they were neck and neck, they turned a corner to see the small side street blocked.  They both managed to get around the blockage.  Kaji went up the wall with his momentum and jumped around.  Dio jumped onto the side wall and scrambled over the debris on the other side of Kaji.  Then they kept going.  Gorstag rolls his eyes and keeps them in sight but not much more.  They get to the alchemists and talk to the wife.  They are able to buy some healing potions from her and stock up.  Then it turns out she has a healing wand she will sell them and they buy thing.  It's command phrase is "fluffy butt."  As she keeps rabbits, some chickens, and other animals, they aren't surprised.  

From there, they race back to the Green Griffon, with the last person having to buy drinks.  This time Gorstag is interested and participates.  Dio was not used to the boots and slipped a few times.  It was enough to slow him down and make him last to arrive.  They decide to go speak to Linda, the high priestess of Moradin in the Undercity.  There is a some confusion at the temple but soon they use the lift.  It's very strange but works well.  They meet the guards at the bottom and one offers to take them to Linda's office.  He makes idle chit chat as he shows them to Linda's office.  

The group ends up being disappointed.  Linda does want their help but isn't ready for them.  Further, she was expecting a bit more of a commitment then they first realized.  If they check the Low Road and clear it of trouble, they can't leave it and can't go to the surface.  They can check passages, see what is still there, see if anything has taken over that needs to be cleared out, but she will expect them to stay on the Low Road and scout it out, clearing any enemies if they can.  Rolen and Gorstag finally understand that this would be long stretches of being underground.  Dio has no problem with it but even Kaji doesn't sound as excited.  They thank her after some more talk about what they heard about Tannaruks and say they will get back to her.  

Finally, they go talk to Lady Sara.  She's delighted to see them but has to meet them in her dining room as she had other visitors.  When they talk, she does confirm what Roldan said that she would like scouts.  They ask if she needs them to go west and she says she needs that as well.  She has a caravan either coming from and headed toward Sundabar and on the road almost every day during the summer and fall.  They talk reward and she says she might be able to find something to hold a concentration spell so another could be cast.  

They head back to the Green Griffon to make final preparations and head out the next morning.  

1800 xp

GM Notes

• I do like the coin names and I think the players are already used to it just by it being used more often.  
• Attunement
• In the end, this is one of those things I don't like about 5E but not directly.  The idea of attunement is a good one.  But not having rules, or not having a system or two for a DM to choose, is what makes this weird.  Or it's not even based on the character's abilities.  I do see that they came out with a class that can increase the number of attuned items and it only took them five years to add that option into the game? 
• I also like the idea of having items that can do some things without attunement and more with it.  That makes more sense to me. 
• As the group is now tenth level, we figure out they are probably some of the most experienced and powerful in the area, with only two exceptions. 
• It just feels off compared to what I'm used to in my fantasy gaming.  They probably could take a tribe of orcs out but it would not be easy. 
• There are times when I think this is good. 
• Then there are times when I think walking through a lot of bad guys/minions is just fun. 
• I think spells are also very different.  Most PF1 spells are duration based not concentration, so you can have many buff spells active.  That doesn't happen in 5E. 
• No combat but a lot of story and background for what is happening in the area.   

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