Tyranny of Dragons - Session 16

When we last left Sunstrike they had just rested and rejuvenated in Elturel with their friends Leosin and Ontharr. A few had joined factions like the Order of the Gauntlet and the Harpers. Ready to journey to Baldur's Gate, the characters headed down to the docks on their final morning in the city of the Companion.

Your friend Ontharr has procured you quite the vessel: A large, two decked river barge. Patchwork, but river-worthy and flying the flag of the Dragoneye Dealing Coster, Captain Tane's barge, The Cuno, will happily take you down to The Gate where it will offload a supply of leather, cheese, glue, meats, and wool it picked up in Elturel. Once there, it hopes to acquire some richer goods, perhaps lamp oil or dyes, to take back up the river.

Travelling with you is Skaggi, a shield dwarf, with leathery, tanned skin with many pock-marks, white hair with burned patches, and grey eyes. He doesn't say much and leaves you alone in return. Captain Tane explains that Skaggi has offered to pull the barge down river with his wagon and strange cow, Bessy. Skaggi's wagon is laden with many goods, some familiar and others very foreign. Any attempt to communicate with him is only greeted by grunts and shrugs.

Everything proceeds as normal in the morning on the first day of the three day journey. Just before lunch, you see dark fortress looms in the distance. Captain Tane tells you it is Fort Morninglord, a former fortress of Elturgard until 13 years ago. Overnight the entire garrison of paladins disappeared and every stone was blackened and fused. The High Overseer feared that the fortress was contaminated by some evil and ordered all entrances sealed and declared that anyone entering the fort would be outlawed.

Sailing on, around the mid afternoon, you approach a narrow point in the river with a stone bridge crossing it. Captain Tane explains that the north side of the river, where Skaggi is currently pulling the barge from, gets very muddy ahead and the road moves to the south side at this point. You'll need to stop and reset the tow line once you pass the bridge. However, as you get closer, you see a large carcass hanging from a rope in the center of the bridge, with several large figures standing on the bridge in the center.

Dom asked Captain Tane what he would recommend to do. The captain recommended staying in the water, rather than going to shore and Dom reluctantly agreed to go with that approach. Lou, meanwhile recognized the figures as ogres and determined that they'd be pretty dumb and stubborn should the Sunstrikers try to talk their way out of the situation.

As The Cuno floated into earshot of the ogres, the big one shouted out, "You pay to cross. Burtz no let you cross without pay. 100 gold bits each now!" Lou immediately began scheming of ways to outsmart them like paying them in copper, or betting that they couldn't count to 100. Deciding to flatter the leader and give him 100 copper pieces, Lou tries to toss a sack up to the bridge, but fails pretty miserably (being a weak old man).

After a short altercation with Dom about who would go retrieve the sack, Burtz threw the animal carcass down onto their barge, exploding in a gory mess. A large battle ensued with several heroes falling unconscious, but surviving and only 100 copper pieces down.

The next two days pass uneventfully, though many of you seem to have misplaced some of your gear. Searching the barge turns up nothing, but after you've given up and are pulling up to Baldur's Gate, prepared to buy new gear, Skaggi comes over to each of you with a bundled... gift?

Lou: Trench Shovel — Turned into sort of a polehammer, with the spade significantly sharpened to a point, but leaving enough surface area to still be used for bludgeoning.

+1 (non-magical) to attack and damage rolls, can be bludgeoning or piercing.

Dom: Studded Leather — Significantly hardened through an additional layer of lacquer, providing your armor with iron-like strength.

AC = 13 + DEX

Thamior: Nimble — Shaved even more metal away, making the blade even lighter, but seemingly no more fragile, allowing you to react faster to enemies.

Adv. on targets with higher DEX, Dodge gives +2 to AC

Gwen: Handaxe — Heavier axe head, yet still remarkably balanced, maybe even better than before.

+1 Magical weapon

Alexa:  Lute — Reinforced on the inside with metal plates such that it can take quite the beating, or give one. Yet the sound is still as beautiful as ever, and it's even been tuned.

1d6 bludgeoning damage

Moki: Moon Rock (Arcane Focus) — Shaved back and polished to reveal a shining interior.

+1 to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Bonus

Duckie: Studded Leather — Significantly hardened through an additional layer of lacquer, providing your armor with iron-like strength.

AC = 13 + DEX